The last time the ‘Tonight’ show aired in New York was in sometime in May 1972 right before they made a move to Burbank, California for the next four decades. Back when Johnny Carson was its host. Now, Jimmy Fallon is soon to take Jay Leno’s place on the “Late Night” television show. Fallon and the top dogs at NBC had no question on where the show would be located. The ‘Tonight’ show’s original roots: in New York City. Nearly 42 years later and in the same studio Carson hosted it and before him, Jack Paar back in the late 1950s.
With a new location, comes a new look. Eugene Lee, renowned theatrical set designer, New York Times says, was hired to give the show a new design for the late night show’s studio. New York Times spoke with Lorne Michaels, executive producer to the show, about Lee.”I think it’s Eugene Lee’s masterpiece,” Michaels told the Times about the new Manhattan skyline he created for the show: he’s also designed for the ‘Tonight’ show’s brother, “Saturday Night Live.” Included in the new studio design is a new stage for Fallon’s house band of five years, The Roots, along with 50 added chairs in the audience.
Mr. Fallon, who has had a history with 30 rock having gotten his start on “Saturday Night Live”, made sure it was known he did not want the show elsewhere. “This is my home, I would feel out of place in L.A., ” Fallon tells the Times having been born and raised in the state of New York.